


Stories of the Second Self: Affection-to-Scale

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [153]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:15:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22709854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Once a local field reporter for ITV in Cincinnati, Steve Yard had only recently gotten back on his feet after being laid off during the federal media crackdown. Entering a coffee shop on his lunch break, Steve sits next to a giant who he belatedly recognizes from a news event he covered. Catching up on old times and sharing their experiences during the city's federal occupation, Steve finds himself enamored by the massive woman, who in turn is charmed by his attention.
Series: Alter Idem [153]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Affection-to-Scale

For a little over two years of Alter Idem Steve Yard had no journalistic work to speak of. The federal occupation of Cincinnati also meant a total lockdown on media and information in general. An all-round disaster for anyone in journalism. Steve had been laid off at ITV. Laid off, of course turned to fired along with the rest of the reporting staff, and even camera people weren't spared.

Steve then went back to his roots and took a job in radio. His prior gig was an early morning show, but the radio station he worked at had no positions there, so they hired him as their morning show content editor. It was that editing work he was planning to continue on his lunch break at a local coffee shop. However, on entering the parking lot he found the place unusually crowded.

Undaunted, Steve put on his slicker for the early November weather and took out his laptop case before heading in. True to the outside assessment every table was occupied.

The cashier said as much, but she pointed toward a side entrance, "Outdoor seating is still open, if that's acceptable sir."

In most establishments outdoor seating doubled as code for giant seating, as the formally human titans simply couldn't enter most businesses. At least this place built an overhang to keep the weather off their larger patrons.

"Thank you," Steve accepted his coffee, sandwich, and change.

From inside, Steve could see normal sized tables, so that after exiting he walked right over to one next to a double-scale table where a Giant woman with dark brown hair sat.

Before Alter Idem, a patron would've made a double-take at seeing serving sizes for coffee jump from twenty-four ounces over to half-gallon to one and a half gallons. It was to the good fortune of giants that pricing didn't scale proportionally, as one really paid more for the cup than the coffee itself.

"You don't mind, right?" Steve asked the woman, who he might be Latina.

"Oh, no go ahead," she replied and went back to her reading.

Sitting down, Steve pulled out his laptop and positioned his coffee and food around before turning on the laptop. Glancing under the table he found no outlet for his chargers.

Glancing around, Steve then looked up at the woman. "Excuse me, is there an outlet over there?"

She didn't look around her table before answering, "They don't have outlets out here. But I have a charging battery if you'd like to use that."

"Thank you," Steve smiled at the offer. "I appreciate that."

"Here you go," the woman offered, lowering the battery between two fingers, her thumb being about as thick as Steve's forearm.

After accepting the charger Steve tilted in his seat and stretched up a bit to see what the woman was reading. "You're not using a laptop yourself?"

"Just papers," the giant woman replied, and showed a few to him.

"I'm not sure what that is about," Steve admitted.

"It's technical writing for commercial electrical systems," she explained, and then asked him, "What about you?"

"Oh, my stuff's for a radio station," Steve said, and then studied the woman a moment before remarking, "You're familiar. Is there a chance I know you from somewhere?"

"I used to teach engineering at the university," the woman said, and then turned to offer her hand. "Dr. Luciana Rodriguez."

"I remember now." Steve snapped, and tapped the side of his head, before offering his hand to three of her lightly gripping fingers. "I was on the scene for another story when they let you go. Didn't you throw a desk through a wall from the third floor."

Luciana laughed softly with a feminine baritone, "No. It was a window, though. I didn't take it well the way they told me before having me escorted off-campus."

"Right," Steve recalled more vividly with reflecting smile. "You also hurled a chair my way."

"I'm so sorry about that," Luciana apologized, "I didn't know anyone was coming up the stairs."

"No, it's okay," Steve warmly excused, "Added excitement to a dull fluff piece story day. Say, you don't mind if I sit with you?"

Luciana looked at her own table a moment. "If you think you can."

Steven had seen it before; setting a human-sized chair onto a giant chair. He looked at the entrance to see inside, before he picked up his chair. Steven then came over to the opposite side of Luciana's seat. "I'm sure they won't mind."

He brought over a second chair to help step up onto his own, and then brought all his stuff over and climbed up. Setting his laptop before him, Steve closed it up and leaned forward.

"How did that news story help out your career?" Luciana asked.

Steven shook his head as he looked down at the coffee he reached for, but not with a rueful look. "Oh, that. H'yeah, totally dead. Stories like that became an hourly thing, and then they shut news down but good during the occupation."

"I'm sorry to hear it," Luciana offered.

"Ehh, don't be," Steve waved off, and resumed admiring Luciana. "It's clear I wasn't going anywhere from ITV. Did you like how our camera man slipped the university's Student Life Center into the shot?"

"I remember seeing that!" Luciana's expression lit up, as she pointed. "They caught so much hell for that! I got better severance compensation because of public feedback. If you still work with that guy tell him I said thank you."

Even with giantess features, Luciana appeared sharp-minded and as striking to Steve as she did back when she was much shorter. Her eyes and ears appeared small on her face, but they in fact were a bit larger than human eyes and ears. Her nose was larger and, Steven noticed as she spoke, there were more human sized teeth lining her mouth, all straight and glistening white.

Her forehead sloped, which was typical of giants, and while her hair was longer than he remembered still didn't reach down further to her shoulders. Her red violet office suit shaped her rather voluminous form into a professional profile, and presented an appeal Steven couldn't quite identify.

All giants, men and women had bodybuilder proportions, and despite an eight-fold grocery bill few looked fat at all. Steven wondered how they adjusted in the early months before the world suddenly turned to one where supernatural was a known reality.

Despite her proportions, Steve realized he was admiring her so long that he didn't register her bidding expression.

He hadn't said anything for a long moment, and realized that. "Oh, I was distracted by you."

"That's sweet, but I'm sure that's not the case," Luciana replied beaming a pleasant grin at him.

"What do you do now?" Steve struggled to come up with something not quite sure where their conversation went in the time he was lost in her eyes.

"I landed a job at Cincinnati Gas and Electric," Luciana answered, and then eyed the forms spread before her. "After everything went crazy they needed people to restore infrastructure, and they were too shorthanded to turn their nose up at resumes from giants who'd only taught engineering for twelve years."

"That's good you bounced back strong," Steve sincerely praised, "I'm glad to hear it. How's that going for you?"

"I'm their number one consultant and manager for St. Bernard," Luciana answered in reference to the part of Cincinnati that became known as a giant's district. "What about you?"

"Radio," Steve revealed his enthusiasm, "Honestly, I never shoulda left it. Especially now that the FCC's finger-waging is less frequent and more distant. Don't have to mind the language so much with every commercial break advisory warning listeners in advance."

"What station?" Luciana asked, resting her chin on interlaced fingers in a mannerism that still captured femininity.

"WXMX," Steve said, "I edit morning content and do some joke writing for the news events."

"The Morning Flak?" Luciana exclaimed with a broader grin. "I love that show! You guys totally made fed occupation news bulletins hilarious. I gotta think the authorities hated you for that."

"Ohh, they did," Steve affirmed with rapid nodding. "But so long as we stuck to their talking points they couldn't shit about it."

"Where'd you guys come up with that Private Pyle character?" Luciana implored with a giggle.

"None of us can take credit for that," Steve confessed, "That's from a TV show way before I was born. We just reprized the character with a heaping scoop of how Robin Williams did it in Good Morning Vietnam, also from before I was born."

"I just want you yo know," Luciana cheered, her hands splayed out and her face bright as a lovely dawn. "You absolutely make my morning commute. I could never have a bad day at work with your show beforehand."

"Has anyone told you how beautiful you are?" Steve said it before he realized it, and then after thinking, knew he didn't regret it being out loud. "I mean you are radiant. Really."

Giants could blush, Steve discovered. Not that he had any doubts, but Luciana's face reddened and her eyes brightened at the compliment, telling him that he could fall for a woman more than twice his height.

"Serious?" Luciana asked, her eyes also reddening a bit.

"Yeah, I mean it," Steve nodded eagerly. "I don't mean to presume on your availability, but I like being with you."

"And all this...?" Luciana waved down at herself. It's not too much for you?"

"I was okay with larger women before," Steve admitted, "not that smaller women were a disqualifier. I guess that's weird for a guy who's only five, five."

"How tall do you think I am?" Luciana suddenly asked.

"Uhh, I dunno," Steve waved at her, "Over thirteen? Can't tell, really."

"Thirteen, two," Luciana said with a softer and more serious tone. "I was nine foot four when you showed up that day to report on my firing. I just kept getting bigger. You know how women fret over weight gain, but with us it's different. I was only just able to get a car I could drive, and it doesn't have a passenger seat."

"I saw some of those on the road," Steve recalled, "Some have second or third in-line seats, but come to think of it, I never saw a car with mixed sized seating."

"Do you think things can work out between us?" Luciana's charming smile mismatched her searching eyes, as she leaned forward.

"It could," Steve replied, his mind again swimming in her dark brown eyes. "I don't know, but I wouldn't mind finding out."

"You mean it, don't you?" Luciana asked.

"There's something special about a woman who carries a laptop charging battery and no laptop,” Steven stated.

At that, Luciana laughed, and quickly covered her mouth for how loud the outburst was. "Oh my god! I guess it's because I know what it's like for everything to be inconvenient."

"And that makes you more generous for it," Steve observed, nesting his chin in one hand as he continued gazing upon her.

A beep sounded, and Steve had no idea where it originated from. Luciana looked at other tables, before nodding toward Steve. "I think that's yours."

He'd forgotten what his own alarm sounded like; an alarm he'd set for daily reminders when his lunch hour was ending. That was the affect Luciana had on him, and Steve realized he wanted more of these moments.

"Can I give you my number?" Steve offered, "Say, if you have a night or weekend free we can get together?"

"Yeah, I'd love that," Luciana nodded pulled a post-it pad out for him to write his number down.

Luciana accepted the paper from, him, making Steve wonder if she had a cell phone or a landline home phone. He'd seen giants use tablets as up-scaled phones, almost as if the world had prepared for the accommodation that giants very much focused on.

"Thank you for talking with me, Steve," Luciana said, as she gathered up her papers, "And I'm free this weekend. I'll call you tonight so we can arrange it. Bye Steve."

"Bye," Steve echoed, and sat there watching her walk out. Once she left the coffee shop Steve was reminded again by his phone alarm. He hadn't realized he'd snoozed the first warning, and barely touched his food or coffee. He bagged it up and left for his car.


End file.
